Cops Corner: East County

The following information was gathered from incident and arrest reports obtained from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. 

Nov. 22
For whom the bell tolls
12:40 p.m. — 4800 block of 58th Terrace East. Lost Property. A woman sold her motorcycle to another woman. Upon completion of the transaction, the seller forgot to remove the license plate. The seller later received a toll violation in the mail, presumably from an incident involving the woman to whom she sold the motorcycle.

Nov. 24
He’s screwed
5:11 a.m. — 3100 block of Whitefield Avenue. Burglary. A man exited a specialty store and saw a man with a screwdriver trying to open the trunk of a vehicle. The first man recognized the man with the screwdriver as the brother of a former employee of the specialty store. The man with the screwdriver told the first man that the store’s owner gave him permission to enter the trunk to retrieve belongings, because the vehicle was about to be scrapped. When the first man informed the man with the screwdriver he was going to contact the store’s owner, the man with the screwdriver fled on foot.

Nov. 25
Bag it
6:28 a.m. — 7900 block of Cooper Creek Boulevard. Found Property. A deputy discovered a child’s backpack full of miscellaneous items on a picnic table at an empty park. The bag contained diapers, wipes, child drawings, pens and some clothing. Nothing in the backpack identified the owner. The deputy seized the bag and put it into evidence.

Cell phone swipe
8:24 a.m. — 5800 block of Ranch Lake Boulevard. Theft. An employee at a department store took a cell phone from the store. The employee snuck into a restroom, removed the phone from the box, placed it into his pocket, clocked out and then headed for the store’s exit. Loss-prevention personnel stopped the employee before he could get away.

Nov. 26
Dance party
12:10 p.m. — ­5500 block of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. Lost Property. A student lost her Florida driver’s license at her school’s homecoming dance. She has been unable to locate it.

Tag troubles
10:02 p.m. — 11400 block of State Road 64 E. Lost/Found Vehicle Tags. A man reported that his auto tag fell off his motor home. The man said that he leaves his motor home at a friend’s property and does not remember when or where the tag fell off.

Hide-and-seek
10:38 p.m. — 2900 block of 53rd Avenue E. Petit Grand Theft Shoplifting. A man was observed cutting a GPS device off of a locked display rack at a department store. The man then hid the GPS device under his sweatshirt and walked past the cash register without paying. A group of store employees began walking toward him in the parking lot. The man then re-entered the store and dropped the GPS device, which is valued at $139.00. An employee detained the culprit until a deputy arrived.

Lock it or lose it
11:18 p.m. — 8300 block of Lockwood Ridge Road. Burglary. A woman reported an unknown person(s) broke into her unlocked vehicle and stole her Florida identification. The victim said her windows were also down when the theft occurred.